DOCUMENTS · HOUSEHOLDS

What to keep in a household vault

There is a short list of documents that decide how quickly a household recovers from a fire, a flood, a hospital visit or a death. Most people can name them and almost nobody can find them in ten minutes.

Last reviewed 23 September 2026.

The core list

Identity: passports, birth certificates, marriage or divorce papers, citizenship or immigration documents, social insurance or social security records, driver's licences.

Property and money: lease or deed, mortgage details, vehicle titles and registrations, insurance policies with policy numbers, bank and investment account details, recent tax filings.

Health and care

Medical summaries for each person, current medications and dosages, allergies, immunisation records, and the contact details of doctors, specialists and pharmacies.

Advance directives, powers of attorney and any care arrangements. These are the documents a hospital will ask about at the worst possible moment.

Evidence for an insurance claim

Photographs or a short video of each room, and close-ups of anything valuable, with receipts and serial numbers where you have them. Redo it once a year and after any significant purchase.

Claims are settled on what you can show. A household that photographed its rooms recovers far more than one trying to remember what was in a cupboard.

Access: the part people get wrong

At least two adults in the household should be able to open the vault, and someone outside it should know how to reach what matters if nobody at home can.

Share by category rather than all or nothing. In HAUSINE, My Vault lets you keep documents sealed and give named people access to a safe rather than to everything you own.

Keeping it current

Set one date a year to check expiry dates on passports, licences and insurance, refresh the room photographs, and remove anything that no longer applies.

A vault that is two years out of date will still be wrong when you need it. Fifteen minutes a year is the whole maintenance cost.

Common questions

What documents should every household keep together?

Identification and passports, birth and marriage certificates, immigration documents, insurance policies, the lease or deed, vehicle titles and registrations, medical information and prescriptions, financial account details, wills and powers of attorney, and photographs of valuables.

Should documents be paper or digital?

Both. Keep digital copies of everything so you can reach them from anywhere, and keep the originals of anything legally significant — passports, certificates, titles, signed wills — safely on paper. A digital copy is proof of what existed; it is rarely a legal substitute.

Who should be able to open the household vault?

At least two adults, and ideally one trusted person outside the home. A vault only one person can open is a single point of failure at exactly the moment the household is least able to cope.

How do I protect documents from fire or flood?

Keep originals in a fire-resistant, water-resistant box or a safe deposit box, keep digital copies somewhere that is not in the same building, and photograph rooms and valuables for insurance purposes at least once a year.

Official sources

Legal documents such as wills and powers of attorney have formal requirements that differ by province and state. Store copies freely, but take advice on the originals.